Rising ammunition prices set back NATO efforts to boost security -official

FILE PHOTO: Banners displaying the NATO logo are placed at the entrance of new NATO headquarters during the move to the new building, in Brussels, Belgium April 19, 2018. REUTERS/Yves Herman/File Photo

OSLO (Reuters) - A top NATO military official warned on Saturday that a drastic rise in ammunition prices means that allies' higher defence spending does not automatically translate into greater security and called for a new approach to defence cooperation.

"Prices for equipment and ammunition are shooting up. Right now, we are paying more and more for exactly the same," Dutch Admiral Rob Bauer, the chair of NATO's military committee, said on Saturday after a meeting of the alliance's chiefs of defence in Oslo.